February 25: Of helplessness, desperation and answered prayer

Leviticus 16:29-18:30

Mark 7:24-8:10

Psalm 41:1-13

Proverbs 10:15-16

At home, what happens when someone takes ill?  It happened to us last week.  My wife and son both came down with the flu.  They complained about feeling under the weather, so I took them to their respective doctors, who confirmed they both had it.  That was Tuesday; I was scheduled to go into the office that morning, then travel for work the rest of the week, and not return home till Saturday morning.  My concern for them led me to cancel my trip; it was more important I stay with them, attend to their needs and make sure they didn't get any worse. Which, I imagine, is what most of us would do.

In that context, the actions of the Greek mother with the sick daughter, the daughter possessed by a demon, are curious at the very least.  What does it tell us to read she left her sick daughter to seek out this Man she'd never met, whom she'd probably only heard about through others? A Rabbi Who was supposedly able to work miracles, never mind she wasn't Jew herself?  What it tells me is, she was desperate.  So desperate she was prepared to leave her sick child at home in a foreign land to seek out a man she'd never met, in hopes He would do for a foreigner what she'd heard He'd done for so many others.  So desperate she was prepared to believe that even the crumbs of this man's blessing would be sufficient for her needs, for her daughter's needs.  Was there faith?  I believe so.  But when I read this today, I see desperation all the more.  

What does it take to be desperate?  Helplessness, I think.  The realization that neither intellect nor ability nor wealth will assure us of what we seek; that every gift, every talent, every strength, every discipline we have, mustered all together, is not enough to achieve the results we ache for with all our hearts.  A marriage's repair.  A spouse's conversion.  A child's healing.  And when we realize how helpless we are when the stakes are at their highest, we become desperate for help where we can find it.  

The Greek mother was helpless, then desperate.  She looked for what she could not get for herself in Jesus.  And He granted her request.

May we all realize our helplessness, and turn to Him with despair.  And may we all know the gratitude of a mother whose child, against all odds, was healed.